Laura Nyro – Eli and the Thirteenth Confession (1968):  Laura Nyro is one of the most gifted singer/songwriters of the 1960’s; and if you ask me, her second and best album Eli and the Thirteenth Confession is a triumph on par with the classic Carole King album Tapestry (1971).  Both albums showcase the same kind of disarming yet intensely personal vocal stylings that only a songwriter can bring to the recording session.  Three very different hit songs were introduced on this album:  “Sweet Blindness” (covered by the 5th Dimension), “Stoned Soul Picnic” (also by the 5th Dimension), and “Eli’s Comin’ ” (by Three Dog Night).  The 5th Dimension had hits with three other Laura Nyro songs as well:  “Blowing Away”, “Wedding Bell Blues”, and “Save the Country”.  Blood, Sweat and Tears had a #2 hit with “And When I Die” from their second album Blood, Sweat and Tears (1968).  Also, Barbra Streisand’s biggest hit song over nearly a 10-year period – between “People” and “The Way We Were” – was “Stoney End”; another Laura Nyro song on the album Stoney End (1970), “Hands Off the Man (Flim Flam Man)” was also a hit for Barbra Streisand.  As great as those three hit songs are, Laura Nyro’s versions of “Sweet Blindness”, “Stoned Soul Picnic”, and “Eli’s Comin’ ” are every bit as good.  But Eli and the Thirteenth Confession works even better as an album, with one fantastic song following another through all 13 tracks.